Putin Speeding Up Delivery of Arms to Egypt

On August 12 Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to “speed up the delivery of billions of dollars in arms to Egypt.

Moreover, he told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sissi that Russia is not only eager to deliver weapons agreed on in March but also to expand “cooperation” in the area of weapons.

According to Arab News, El Sissi was in Russia for meetings and thanked Putin “for being the first leader to invite him for a visit outside the Arab world” since he became president.

El Sissi said the Egyptian people were paying close attention to the Russian visit and to the things the two leaders discussed. He said his people “were expecting a high level of cooperation” between Egypt and Russia.

The Egypt Independent reports that the U.S. State Department reacted to El Sissi’s Russian visit by saying, “Egypt is free to have relations with whoever it wants.” For their part, Egypt has made clear that it not trying to strengthen ties with Russia “at the expense of ties with the U.S.”